


all that i know (is you caught me at the right time)

by ladybex



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ben plus Rose equals BFFs even if Ben doesn't want to admit that, Dadam fic, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Phasma/Ben Solo, Single Dad Ben Solo AU, co parenting done right, friendly ex's, slow ish burn, the trash fic i've always wanted to write
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-22
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-08-27 11:08:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16701355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladybex/pseuds/ladybex
Summary: He’s in his SUV on the way to The Falcon when it finally hits him that this woman who he can’t get out of his brain is the same one his 10-year-old is experiencing his first crush on. This is a development that can only lead to potential disaster, so he does what any self-respecting 31-year-old would do and leans his forehead against the steering wheel at the next red light while muttering the word fuck to himself over and over again until the light turns green.Because really, Ben has zero idea how he’s going to handle this situation.::work title taken from Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves





	1. i.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! It's been a while since I've written a multichapter fic for any fandom, and never one for Reylo, so let's give this a whirl alright? Bear with me friends, I don't have an outline for this yet, but I do know how it's going to end, so the ride to get there could be a lot of fun right? I plan on keeping the chapters on the shorter side, but I don't have an update schedule planned as of now! 
> 
> big thanks goes out to weddersins for beta reading and naming this thing! also to lovefromyourginger for bouncing ideas around with me! and all my uwu's to the The Winds Beneath My Wings gc on twitter for the endless encouragement!

All that I know  
Is you caught me at the right time  
Keep me in your glow  
'Cause I'm having such a good time  
With you  
  
_Golden Hour - Kacey Musgraves_  
  


* * *

  
  
“Nash, we’re going to be late for drop off!” Ben Solo finds himself yelling, unsurprisingly, to his 10-year-old son from the front door of the small ranch style home he owns.  
  
It’s 6:32am, an ungodly hour for anyone to be awake, but they two of them have made a steady routine for themselves since the divorce six years ago. That routine includes being out the door at precisely 6:30am, Monday through Friday, so they can go through the 15-minute ordeal of before school care drop-off with plenty of time for Ben to get to the bar in time to meet his 8am delivery guy.  
  
He has this down to a science, this life he’s made for himself and his son since his now ex-wife unceremoniously asked him for a divorce as easily as someone would request for the peas to passed across the table. Ben allowed himself a minute, maybe, to be hurt by the bluntness of it, before he had nodded at Christie and went about the rest of his day as if nothing had changed.  
  
Marrying your college drinking buddy – even after a one-night stand resulted in the birth of your child -   wasn’t exactly the picture of storybook romances. Despite this, they had lasted for three years thoug h, mostly for the sake of their son, the unexpected delight of both their worlds. They had always been better at being friends than they were at lovers.  It still took a solid year of paperwork and court dates and negotiations to finalize everything, the official end of their marriage falling close enough to Nash’s 4th birthday that it earned them enough questioning looks for their combined friends and family when they went about hosting the party as if they hadn’t just legally ended their life together.  
  
Christie called them the picture-perfect example of a modern family.  
  
His mother called them exhausting.  
  
“I’m coming!” his son hollers from down the hall that leads to his bedroom. It’s already 6:35am and usually at this time they are pulling into the drive through at the Starbucks down the street for Ben’s morning coffee and a chocolate milk and muffin for Nash.  
  
Ben sighs. “I’m going to start the car, lock the door behind you!” he replies as he hears a clambering from the shared bathroom and a shout of - _no wait_ – followed by hurried feet on the hardwood floors.  
  
Nash all but zooms past him out the door, scrambling for the passenger side back door as Ben unlocks it from the fob. With a roll of his eyes he locks up his house and pulls open his own door before tossing hi s well-worn leather backpack into the drivers’ seat. It’s not until he looks in his Rearview  as he’s pulling from the driveway that he notices what exactly was taking his kid so long to get ready this morning.  
  
“What in the world did you do to your hair?” he questions his son who is fiddling with the strap of his belt buckle.  
  
Nash turns scarlet. “Uh, it’s some of that hair junk stuff Mom bought me for Christmas last year.”  
  
Ben just nods his head in acceptance, really not wanting to delve into this topic before he’s managed to get some caffeine in his bloodstream.   
  
\---  
  
Ten minutes later, coffee in hand, Ben checks the backseat once again to find his son fiddling with his curls in the window and decides to bite the bullet. He knows that look all too well - damn  it if he hasn’t seen it on his face several times in his 31 years of life - and  he braces himself for a swift retribution to any accusations he might end up making.  
  
It’s a face of a Solo man who is helplessly in love.  
  
And a Solo man who is helplessly in love is also quick to denial.  
  
Ben clears his throat loud enough to gather his son’s attention, Nash coming out of his daze long enough to look connect eyes in the rearview mirror. “So uh, what’s with the hair product, Bud? ” he tries as delicately as he can manage.  
  
Ben is far too young to have this conversation with his 10-year-old. Then again, he’s far too young to have an actual 10-year-old, but  apparently, this is his life apparently.  
  
The blush that rises on Nash’s face is more than enough to confirm to Ben what he already knows ; that his son is smitten with his first crush and that he should have waited until Christie was back in town to broach this topic.  
  
Heaven help him.  
  
“It’s nothing Dad,” Nash half whines before taking a large bite of his muffin.  
  
The way his kid snorts and crosses his arms across his chest is enough for Ben to drop the topic completely for the rest of the ten-minute drive to the community center which  houses the school age childcare program where Nash is enrolled.  It makes his life 100% easier being able to drop his son off somewhere that will put him on and get him off the school bus every day, and it doesn’t hurt that his mother’s  foundation is the one that runs the program either.  
  
Ben pulls into the front parking of The Organa Family Foundation Community Center, sliding his C-RV into the spot next his mother’s Volvo. Nash is unbuckled and half out the door before Ben even has a chance to pull the key out of the ignition, but lucky for him his kid can’t access the building the childcare program is in without the scan badge all the parents receive upon enrollment.  
  
“Slow your roll kiddo,” Ben hears himself saying before internally cringing _because when had he become his father?_  
  
Nash stills on the sidewalk before the entry and waits for Ben to catch up. When he was little, he wouldn’t have thought about leaving the car without clinging tightly to Ben’s hand, leg, or jacket, but now that he’s ten he’s gotten too cool for that. Christie commends their son on his independence every time Ben finds himself complaining to her over FaceTime about it, and gently reminds him that Nash is growing up and they should be lucky to have such an easy child.  
  
Ben just wishes his son could go back to being little and needing him again.  
  
“I just want to see Bubbe.”  
  
“Yeah well, Bubbe would prefer if her grandson doesn’t become roadkill outside of her business,” Ben reminds him gently as he digs in his back pocket for his entrance badge to flash under the scan reader.  
  
Nash rolls his eyes. “I’m ten Dad, I’m not a little kid anymore.”  
  
Shaking his head Ben rolls his eyes. “Sure,” he says with a chuckle as the lock flashes from red to green and Ben hears the telltale click which means he can pull the entryway doors open.  
  
The childcare center is not a completely separate part of the OFFCC complex; it’s connected through various hallways to the main building of the campus his mothers business sits on, the entrance and exists just run on a different security structure in order to maintain the safety of the children who spend the better parts of their days in the building. A blessing and a curse, because once you enter the front doors you’re immediately confronted with the front desk and a second set of secured doors that you can only get through after signing your child in for the day.  
  
Which was being manned by Kaydel Connix this morning.  
  
“You’re late Solo,” the younger blonde says teasingly as she slides the sign in sheet for Nash’s age group underneath the opening of window into the admin office.  
  
Ben suppresses a smile and instead huffs an over exaggerated sigh before jerking his head in the direction of his son. “Blame that one Kaydel. It’s all on him this morning,” he tells her as he scratches his first signature of the day into the paper.  
  
The buzzer is far too loud and obnoxious for just past 7am, but his kid is off like a rocket as soon as Ben has the heavy door opened, halfway to Leia’s office before Ben has time to even blink.  
  
“Is that my handsome grandson?” he hears his mother call out as Ben rounds the corner. Leia’s office door is wide open and she has Nash in a tight hug when he makes his way to right outside the door.  
  
Leia catches his eye, just barely, over the top of his son’s head and mouths _what’s with the hair?_ as Ben leans against the frame. Ben gives a helpless shrug in reply before he walks over and presses a kiss on the top of his diminutive mother’s head. Leia reaches up and gives him a gentle pat on the check before she settles back into her desk chair while Nash rocks back and forth impatiently on his heels.  
  
“You’re father is stopping by the bar today. I figured I’d give you a heads up,” Leia says with a look that causes Ben to groan.  
  
He runs a hand through his hair as he sighs. “Is he going to complain about all the updates I’ve made in the place again?”  
  
Four years ago, when Nash was six, Ben’s father Han suffered a major heart attack that nearly killed him. His doctor insisted that he retire after it happened, and Ben sold his third of the restaurant management company he ran with Christie and their business partner Hux, in order to step in and take over the daily job of running The Falcon Lounge.  
  
The Falcon was run down when Ben took over, more of a seedy dive bar than anything, in addition to struggling  financially according to the badly-kept books his father had surrendered to him.  It was almost a no brainer to update the building, which admittedly had good bones, and turn it into more of a bar that young adults would hang out, instead of The Falcon’s previous smattering of baby boomers.    
  
Han was not impressed.  
  
Leia shoots him a glare. “Your father loved that bar. It was his home. You didn’t have to go and change everything about it Ben.”  
  
Ben snorts. “No, I really did.”  
  
“Is Miss Rey on morning drop off duty this week Bubbe?” Nash interrupts before Ben and Leia have a chance to really get into it.  
  
Leia’s eyes soften when she looks at her grandson. “Yeah Bubbeleh, I do believe Miss Rey is in the drop off center this morning,” she says with twinkle in her eye.  
  
Nash is out of the door in 10 seconds flat and suddenly everything about this morning all starts to make sense to Ben.  
  
Still he pauses. “Miss Rey?” he asks his mother with a single eyebrow drawn into an arch.  
  
“New hire. She started last week, she was hanging out in the gym on the rock wall with a bunch of the older kids after school. Everyone really seems to like her.”  
  
Ben works his jaw while trying his hardest to remember any new staff last week. He doesn’t make a habit of hanging around too long in the afternoon honestly; he’s tired and so is Nash and really, he’d just like to get home and have dinner and zone out on the couch with his kid.  
  
“I don’t remember her,” he says with a shake of his head as he turns to head out Leia’s office.  
  
“Oh, don’t worry, you would!” Leia shouts back at him as he turns down towards the room Nash should have headed to wards.  
  
He swears he can hear her laughing all the way down the hallway.  
  
\---  
  
Ben hears her before he see’s her, this new staff member named Miss Rey, this woman who he is about 100% certain is the object of his sons’ affection.  
  
“Nash Solo where on earth are your parents? You know you can’t just come running in here without an adult,” he hears over the dull roar of preteens just as he opens the classroom door.  
  
Ben clears his throat. “Uh, hi,” he says as the young woman in front of him swirls around, eyes widening as she takes in his appearance, face flushing when she realizes that he is, in fact, Nash’s father.  
  
Ben realizes then that he can rather intimidating at first glance; he’s 6’3 with a broad chest and black curls that brush his shoulders. The sleeves black and green flannel he has thrown on over the band tee he put on this morning ar e pushed up enough to display the intricate tattoo sleeves that decorate his arms. His ears are even pierced, an act of teenage rebellion that he’s never quite been able to let go of no matter how ridiculous his mother thinks he looks.  
  
Miss Rey has a deer-in-the-headlights look on her face as his son bounces up in beside them, eager to please every adult as normal, and breaks into the biggest grin as his eyes move back and forth between the two adults.  
  
The younger woman is the first to look away, as she pushes a lock of her loose curls behind her ear where Ben swears that he catches some of her own ink behind her ear. She stare s resolutely at the floor for a solid minute before looking b ack up at him. She flashes him a dazzling smile and holds her comparatively tiny hand out to him to shake.  
  
“Hi Mr. Solo, we haven’t had a chance to meet yet. I’m Rey Johnson, I’ve just started working for OFFCC and will be one of the rotating staff over seeing the school age care program along with a variety of other duties in the main building,” she says brightly as he grasps her hand in his much larger one.  
  
She is absolutely stunning. Chestnut brown hair and hazel eyes, Ben’s even close enough to notice a smattering of freckles across her nose.  
  
“Uh, Ben. Solo,” he says transfixed by her smile as he shakes her hand far longer than what is deemed necessary. “Um, you can just call me Ben, everyone else around here does.”  
  
Miss Rey gives him a little nod as he finally let’s go of her hand and continues to stand there like a complete moron, because well, he’s actually a complete moron. Quickly he claps a hand firmly on Nash’s shoulder and all but drags his son in front of him, prepared to run down the need to know details that most of the staff in the entire building is already aware of.  
  
“It’s typically just the two of us. Nash’s mom is out of town a lot for work, so you’ll be aware in advance if she’s doing drop off or pick up. We’re typically here right about 7am, maybe earlier, and I’ll be here to pick him between 4:45 and 5 o’clock most nights.”  
  
Miss Rey just continues to smile and nod, but Ben can see the gears turning in her head as she stores this information away for later. “What’s Mrs. Solo’s name? I don’t think you mentioned it.”  
  
Ben flushes and runs a had through his hair. “Christie hasn’t been Mrs. Solo for about six years, she took her maiden name back after we divorced.”  
  
“She’s Christie Phasma, Miss Rey. You’d like her!” his sons chimes in from between them.  
  
Rey turns her gaze back to his son and gives him a smile that wrinkles her nose up. “Well if she’s anything like you, I’m sure I will,” she says in such a genuine manner that Ben can’t help but believe every word that comes out of her mouth.  
  
No wonder his son has become so quickly enamored with her. Nash turns into a flustering mess beneath Ben’s palms, and he’s gotta give it to the kid, he’s got really good taste when it comes to women.  
  
Ben kneels to say his goodbyes for the day, gives Nash his morning pep talk about listening to adults and following the rules before he steals a quick hug and lets the kid dash to where his friends are already playing some board game. When he stands up, he realizes that Miss Rey is still hovering near where he’s at, wringing her hands anxiously in front of her.  
  
“Is there something you need Miss Rey?” Ben offers, hoping he didn’t do something to make this situation weird for her.  
  
For her sake, she looks relieved that she isn’t the one that must approach him. “I’m so incredibly sorry about bringing your ex wife like that, I had no idea. I’m just really embarrassed is all.”  
  
Ben lets out a sigh of relief. “No worries. Christie and I are on great terms, so don’t worry about it. Nash is well adjusted too, I don’t even think he remembers us being married really? My mom would happily fill you in on the details, she finds our arrangement a little odd and loves to tell anyone who will listen just how odd it is,” he says with a little laugh at the end, but quickly realizes that she has no idea what he’s even talking about. Rey is looking at him like he’s grown a second head.  
  
“You do know my mother is Leia, right?”  
  
Miss Rey’s brows furrow in confusion. “No! Nope. I knew she had a grandson here, I just didn’t realize it was Nash. Oh god, I’m really digging myself in deep, aren’t I?” she asks with a nervous smile.  
  
Ben gives her a sympathetic smile and shrugs. “You’re fine, I promise. Have a good day Miss Rey,” he says with a tip of his head as he makes his way out of the room and heads back towards his mothers office.  
  
“Ben?” he hears behind him, and he turns to see Miss Rey’s head poking out of the door. “Just call me Rey okay?” she says with a wide smile before she ducks back into the classroom.  
  
\---  
  
Ben makes a bee line to his mothers’ office and shuts the door quickly behind him when he walks in this time.  
  
“What the fuck was that mom?” he whisper-yells as he gestures towards the direction he just came from.  
  
Leia just peers at him over her glasses. “Whatever do you mean Benjamin? Is Miss Rey not to your liking?”  
  
Ben slumps into a chair and groans. “The exact opposite mother. Couldn’t you have warned me that she was gorgeous?” he mutters with his head in his hands.  
  
“Oh, I did. Didn’t you hear me say you would remember her?” Leia just says as she continues to flip through the paperwork on her desk.  
  
Letting out a very annoyed half growl, Ben pulls himself out of the chair. “I have a delivery guy to go meet. But we’re talking about this later, mother, ” he says with a jab of his finger and his hand on the door.  
  
Leia rolls her eyes at him. “Whatever you say dear. Have a nice day, I love you son,” she says and Ben can’t help but detect a slight tone of sarcasm.  
  
“I love you too,” Ben declares reluctantly as he heads out of the door and towards the front of the building.  
  
\---  
  
He’s in his SUV on the way to The Falcon when it finally hits him that this woman who he can’t get out of his brain is the same one his 10-year-old is experiencing his first crush on. This is a development that can only lead to potential disaster, so he does what any self-respecting 31-year-old would do and leans his forehead against the steering wheel at the next red light while muttering the word _fuck_ to himself over and over again until the light turns green.  
  
Because really, Ben has _zero idea_ how he’s going to handle this situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you like it, let me know!
> 
> come talk to me!
> 
>  
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/kybershearted/)  
> [tumblr](https://bex-xo.tumblr.com/)


	2. ii.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leia takes her hot tea with a quiet thank you as Ben swats at Han, who is currently trying to take the one remaining coffee for himself. 
> 
> “You don’t work here,” Ben says as he stubbornly lifts the carrier up over his head and effectively out of Han’s reach. Hell, it works on Nash, so there’s no good reason it wouldn’t work on his dad right?
> 
> Han just crosses his arms across his chest with a huff. “I don’t work anywhere kid, thanks to you.”
> 
> “Han, you don’t work because you had a massive heart attack. How on earth was that Ben’s fault?” Leia chides from her desk. 
> 
> “You were there when he was a teenager, Princess, you know exactly why it was the kid’s fault.”
> 
> Leia simply shrugs her shoulders in agreement. “Gee, thanks mother,” Ben says sarcastically as Leia lets out a laugh. 
> 
> “You were a difficult teenager Benjamin, I can’t argue there. You’ve been a better adult though, even with all the tattoos and those ridiculous things in your ears.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh! Chapter 2 is here! Thank you all so much for the comments and kudos, it means so much to us fic writers to have our work embraced! 
> 
> All my love to [weddersins](https://twitter.com/weddersins) who has been such a thorough, helpful and patient beta. Honestly, this would be an unreadable mess without her, don't let her say otherwise.

I know I barely know ya  
But this is feeling good  
Not gonna overthink it  
Just like I normally would  
No sense in tryin’ to hide it  
Your smile, it says it loud  
We know where this is going  
What’s left to figure out?   
  
_Lemonade by Matt Wertz_  


* * *

  
  
“Well well well, look who finally decided to show up,” Ben’s bartender calls one morning after another drop off that lasted far too long, and not quite long enough.  
  
He flips the bird as he shuffles past the bar itself and into the small office space where he had spent hours as a child. Han had left the room in complete disarray when Ben took over the business; his father had fought Leia for years about getting someone to keep his books, but Han _insisted_ he had it covered. To the surprise of exactly no one, he did not.  
  
Ben chucks his leather jacket onto the plush red velvet chair that sits in the corner, something he keeps solely for sentimental reasons, and settles himself down behind his desk. Meg, one of the evening managers, had left a stack of register read outs from the following night. Thanks to the overly expensive business degree he had, Ben was pretty okay at keeping his own books with minimal oversight. It was typically the second thing he did each morning, and his slightly insufferable accountant Armitage Hux would come behind him once a month to fix any of Ben’s mistakes.  
  
Except these past few weeks. He had fallen into the habit of showing up later and later, and as a result leaving the morning delivery to his morning manager.  
  
There is a quiet knock on his door frame. Ben doesn’t even bother looking up from his work -   he knows exactly who it’s going to be.  
  
“It’s not that I mind being the one that signs in the morning deliveries; I’ve been telling you for two years now that it’s a duty that I should have anyway, Ben. It would just be cool to know why all of the sudden you’ve handed this over to me with nary a word?”  
  
Ben sighs deeply through his nose before he drags his eyes up to the door frame. There in all of her 5’2 glory stands Rose Tico, arms crossed as she gives him that _look_ ; the one she’s used to get her way with him ever since they were children growing up next door to each other.  
  
“Come on in, Rose. It’s so great to see you too, and yes I had a wonderful night with my kid, thanks for asking,” he replies sarcastically. Rose scoffs, and Ben watches as his best friend picks up the  discarded jacket draped over the chair. She hangs it on the hook that he somehow never manages to be bothered with.  
  
Instead of replying, Rose just rolls her eyes as she makes herself comfortable in the velvet chair she’s pushed towards the desk. “Okay- spill Solo. I’ve been taking this in stride, but as your best friend -”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“- _and_ favorite employee you owe me an explanation.”  
  
Ben pinches the bridge of his nose with one hand as the other rubs the back of his neck. “There’s nothing to explain, Rose. Nash and I needed to slow down our mornings a little, that’s all,” he says with a self-satisfied shrug. Technically, that was true.  
  
“Liars don’t make friends Ben.”

  
“I’m not lying!” he lies, because fuck if he’s telling Rose about his crush on a girl.  
  
She smirks at him from over the desk, all haughty and self-assured and that’s when Ben knows this whole conversation has been a trap.  
  
“So, there’s no mystery women at the community center?”  
  
“Did Han put you up to this? Or was it my mother?”  
  
Rose throws her head back in a laugh, and Ben groans in frustration. What exactly is so funny about his completely pathetic love life, he has no idea, but he sits there and takes it while his maybe-sorta-best-friend is cracking up over something he clearly has no clue over.  
  
Rose takes a deep breath and shakes herself out a little when the laughing subsides. “Actually no, I was on FaceTime with Armie the other night and he asked if I’d managed to meet this girl yet. And, _of course_ , I had no idea what he was talking about, because _you never tell me things Ben._ ”  
  
Ben is bewildered, because how does _Armitage_ have any idea about this situation? Other than the relentless teasing from his parents, the only person he’s even mentioned Rey to is Christie, but even then, it was in the hey-our-kid-has-his-first-crush sort of way and not the hey-I-have-a-crush sort of way.  
  
It really takes him too long to connect the dots here, and when he does, he curses under his breath before picking his phone up from his desk.  
  
Christie picks up after the second ring. “Hello Ben. This is awfully early, is Nash alright?” she says in her ever-posh accent.  
  
“What have you been telling Armitage about me and Miss Rey?”  
  
Christie makes an annoyed noise, and Ben hears her shuffling some papers around. In all likelihood she’s getting ready for some business meeting and he’s just interrupted with his phone call instead of texting like any sane person would do.  
  
“No good morning then? Hmm.”  
  
Ben sighs, already exhausted by his ex-wife. “Good morning Christie. Now give me an answer.”  
  
“I only mentioned what was blindingly obvious from our FaceTime chat the other day, and that was the fact you have a thing for Miss Rey. I also mentioned that you don’t want to be obvious about it because you’re afraid of hurting Nash’s feelings in this fine mess you’ve gotten yourself into. Now, is that everything this morning? I’ve got a meeting in a few minutes.”  
  
“Tell Armitage to keep his nose out of my business. Especially when you’re just speculating about things you don’t even know about.”  
  
He can practically hear Christie’s eyes rolling in her head when she responds a second later. “You’re not even trying to deny it, darling. I’ll call Nash tonight, and Armitage and I are flying into MCO on Thursday night. We’ll be back in Melbourne for a few weeks. Hopefully I’ll get to meet this Miss Rey then, yeah?”  
  
“Goodbye Christie,” Ben says as his ex cackles into the phone.  
  
Rose, of course, is still there, her chin resting neatly in her hands as her elbows are planted firmly on her knees. She blinks at him once, then twice, before she clears her throat with barely concealed amusement across her face.  
  
“Your still here,” he states dryly as the younger girl nods her head eagerly. “Don’t you have a job to be doing, Tico?”  
  
Rose waves a single hand in annoyance. “It’s like 9 something in the morning. Cesar is behind the bar and Kora is manning the tables. They will yell if it gets busy, which is highly unlikely this far before noon, I might add.. Tell me _everything,_ Ben.”  
  
Ben runs a hand through his hair anxiously, because in all honesty there is not much to tell. He drops Nash off, makes awkward small talk with Rey for far too long to be acceptable, and then sits in his SUV for several long minutes willing himself to believe he’s not that weird.  
  
“What do you want me to say? I don’t know anything about her, she’s there to wrangle school aged kids and make sure they get on their buses. We’ve hardly had a real conversation that hasn’t revolved around my kid in the three weeks we’ve known each other.”  
  
“Well then you need to change that, you dummy! The girl’s gotta have a lunch break, right? Ask her to lunch sometime,” Rose tells him like asking someone out like that is the easiest thing ever, when it’s really very much not.  
  
“That seems a little weird,” Ben starts until he catches sight of Rose’s glare. For someone so small, she could be really scary when she wanted. It’s probably how he was so easily bullied into making her Nash’s godmother when she was only 16. “She probably doesn’t even like me. Or find me attractive,” he protests weakly.  
  
“Ben.  I’m never going to repeat this to anyone ever, and I’ll deny it if questioned about it later, but... c’mon man. Have you seen yourself? You’re like 6’3 and built like a brick house. If you weren’t practically my older brother - if I wasn’t weirdly attracted to tall, skinny, incredibly pale gingers - I could be into you. Objectively speaking.”

“Please _never_ say that again,” he deadpans, which causes Rose to burst into a fit of giggles.  
  
“Oh god, don’t worry. I won’t. I kinda feel gross now actually,” she says,  sticking her tongue out at him.  
  
“I assure you, feeling is mutual,” Ben says as he glances at the clock on the wall. “You should probably go make sure Cesar isn’t doing body shots off a co-ed, Miss Floor-Manager.”  
  
“That was one time!” Rose shouts back as she closes his office door, leaving him in grateful silence.  
  
Ben drops his head into his hands and lets out a silent groan, because… _fuck._ This whole situation was rather inconvenient. _Of course_ he had to go and be interested in someone who not only worked for his mother, but someone who managed to turn his own kid into a stammering mess.  
  
With a sigh Ben gets up from his desk and grabs his leather jacket from where Rose hung it up for him, and quickly exits his office  
  
“Tico is in charge! I’ll be back soon!” he hollers as he makes a quick exit out of the back of The Falcon to where his SUV is parked.  
  
  
\---  
  
  
He’s nearly half-way to OFFCC before he decides to make a quick stop at the Starbucks drive thru, because at least it will give him an excuse to be there when he should be at his job. He has no idea what to even get, or how much to grab. He suspects his mom and Kay will enjoy whatever he brings them, and Poe will want whatever has the most caffeine in it. He orders a cinnamon dolce for Rey; it’s not his fault he’s noticed the slip on her order cup before and just happened to remember it.  
  
Twenty minutes later he’s walking through the front door of OFFCC, coffees in hand, and heading towards the second floor which houses the building’s offices.  
  
“Hey Solo, need a hand?” Poe Dameron, the foundations communications director and buildings resident heartthrob, calls to Ben as he heads up the stairs.  
  
“Nah, I got it man. There’s an Americano here for you though,” Ben tells him as he nods at the drink in question. Poe wiggles it out of the carrier as they meet at the top of the stairs.  
  
Poe is a little more than an acquaintance but not quite a friend. He’s worked for his mother for years now, and although they have endured quite a few family meals together no one would accuse them of being close.  
  
In fact, Rose had a point when she called herself his best friend; it was something that was becoming more and more apparent as time went on.  
  
“This was really nice of you, buddy,” Poe says with clap on the back, far too familiar for what Ben views their relationship to be, but hell, maybe he really does need some dude friends that aren’t Hux.  
  
“Don’t mention it,” Ben murmurs as he heads down to his mother’s main office. She keeps a larger one in this building, ostensibly so that she can actually run a foundation out of without being overrun with small children.  Ben also knows she favors the one in the daycare building specifically because it gets run over by small children.  
  
Ben drops the hot mocha drink on Kaydel’s desk before allowing himself into his mother’s office.  
  
Only to come face to face with his father.  
  
“What are you doing here?” they both manage to say at the same time, much to the amusement of Leia.  
  
“I’m here to see your mother, _my wife_ , thank you,” his father snipes as he gestures haplessly at the woman in question.  
  
“Well I figured I’d do my good deed for the day and bring the office some coffee,” Ben says as he lifts the cardboard carrier up enough for Han to catch it in his view.  
  
Leia takes her hot tea with a quiet thank you as Ben swats at Han, who is currently trying to take the one remaining coffee for himself.  
  
“You don’t work here,” Ben says as he stubbornly lifts the carrier up over his head and effectively out of Han’s reach. Hell, it works on Nash, so there’s no good reason it wouldn’t work on his dad right?  
  
Han just crosses his arms across his chest with a huff. “I don’t work anywhere kid, thanks to you.”  
  
“Han, you don’t work because you had a massive heart attack. How on earth was that Ben’s fault?” Leia chides from her desk.  
  
“You were there when he was a teenager, Princess, you know _exactly_ _why_ it was the kid’s fault.”  
  
Leia simply shrugs her shoulders in agreement. “Gee, thanks mother,” Ben says sarcastically as Leia lets out a laugh.  
  
“You were a difficult teenager Benjamin, I can’t argue there. You’ve been a better adult though, even with all the tattoos and those ridiculous things in your ears.”  
  
“That’s my cue to leave,” Ben says with a roll of his eyes that leaves both his parents snickering. “I’m gonna go drop this last coffee off and head back to The Falcon before it gets busy. I left Rose in charge, but only Cesar and Kora are there and that could be a disaster.”  
  
Han attempts one more time to try and sneak a coffee off Ben’s carrier, before Leia reminds him there is perfectly good coffee down in the lobby - _or even at home Han_ – which causes his father to admit defeat and settle back into the office chair he must have been lounging in when Ben showed up.  
  
“Ben darling?” his mother calls as he goes to open the office door; Ben pauses and turns his head just enough to make eye contact with his mother. “Rey’s office is the third one down across the hall,” she says, with the face of a women who has no shame in her meddling.  
  
Ben cannot stop the color that rises quickly to his face – embarrassed at his transparency in front of his parents, of all things – and manages to stutter out a thanks before closing the door behind him. He leans his head against the cool metal of the industrial door and takes in a deep breath, a feeble attempt to calm his nerves and gather the courage to go down and knock on Rey’s door.  
  
It’s not like he’s been completely celibate since his divorce. Tinder has been useful on the rare weekends that he’s kidless and Rose has kicked him out of the bar, but nothing had lasted more than a couple of dates, no matter how good the sex has been.  
  
If the fact that he was the primary caregiver for his son hadn’t scared away whoever he was attempting to date, the less-than-flexible schedule he kept generally did the trick.  
  
“Ben?” a familiar, concerned filled voice says behind him; one that he’s starting to think he would be able to pick up in a crowd of hundreds if he tried hard enough.  
  
It also happens to be the person he was trying to work up the nerve to go and see, so this is cool. Everything is fine.  
  
Not wanting to seem too eager, Ben takes a deep breath to center himself before he lifts his head and turns to face his reckoning. Rey wears a look of worry on her face. Her brows are knitted together, and she is standing with hands firmly planted on her hips and head tilted to the side. The jeans and t-shirt she had been wearing this morning when he took his time – again – dropping Nash off were replaced with a more professional ensemble consisting of an short sleeved green blouse and a black skirt that hit her knees. Ben tries not to focus on her bare legs, the shapely calves becoming in slim ankles visible above her sandals. Her arms were covered by a loose cardigan.. She looks nice, it puts his white t-shirt and ripped jeans combination to shame, really. Ben is suddenly self-conscious all over again.  
  
“Is everything okay?” she says as she steps just a little bit closer, and Ben’s body thrums with giddy excitement as she enters his personal space. _Be cool, be cool, be cool_ he tells himself frantically.  
  
“Hi Rey. I was actually on my way to find you,” he starts before he realizes he didn’t answer her question in an attempt to ‘be cool’. “Everything’s fine. My parents were uh, just being parents, you know?” he says with what he hopes is a sense of comradery, as everyone can relate to having embarrassing parents.  
  
He can tell instantly that he’s said the wrong thing. Rey deflates for maybe half a second, but it’s long enough for Ben to realize that he’s made the wrong assumption – maybe not everyone knows what it’s like to have obnoxious parents after all.  
  
“No, not really,” she says quietly, her tone full of something Ben almost takes for embarrassment until she looks up  and he notices the anger in her eyes. He’s taken aback, and Rey takes the opportunity to turn on her heel to head back in the direction of her office.  
  
Ben is dumbstruck for 30 seconds before taking off down the hallway after her, thanking his genetics for giving him these long legs. “I – fuck – Rey. I’m sorry. I didn’t know, I wasn’t really thinking.”  
  
She stops right outside her office door and Ben catches the shuddering breath on her frame. When she looks up at him again, the anger has lessened. Instead she just seems sad. Ben knows right then that he never wants to see her sad like this again. Of course, he knows better than to believe this will be the only time he upsets her. The odds were not in his favor.  
  
“Obviously,” she tells him as she knocks her sandaled foot into his boot.  
  
“I’m sorry,” he says again as he hands her the coffee in a conciliatory gesture. He notes with joy how her eyes light up when she takes the first sip.

“We don’t have to talk about that, ever really if you don’t want to.” Ben clears his throat, shuffling his feet awkwardly.  
  
Rey leans against her door frame and looks up at him through her lashes, a small smile playing at her lips. “And what _would_ you want to talk to me about, Ben?”  
  
Everything - Ben would like to talk to her about everything. If he could get his mouth to form the words, he’d tell her that. Instead, he stands there for a solid minute, his brain suddenly frozen.  
  
“Oh, uh, well-”  
  
Rey looks up at him expectantly. Ben runs a single hand through his hair before he takes another step forward and into her space, his hand coming to a rest firmly on the frame above where she rests.  
  
It’s now or never really, so Ben takes the jump. “I would just like to get to know you a little better... if that’s okay with you?”  
  
Her blinding smile is immediate and quickly followed by an enthusiastic yes. “I mean. Yeah, I’d like to get to know you better too,” she says in an attempt to cover her overeager reaction.  
  
“Uh. Lunch sometime?” Ben asks, already knowing how much Rose is going to gloat over this but damn it’s worth it.    
  
“Yes. Yes, I’d love lunch. I’ll need to double check my schedule - I do a lot of social services work over here during the day and sometimes I’m out of the office working on other projects for your mother. I can – uh – give you my number? And we can figure it all out?”  
  
Ben very quickly produces his phone and allows her to enter her information. Rey is wearing a pleased little grin on her face when she hands it back over and he gives a startled little laugh when he notices the sun emoji she’s entered next to her name. It’s very fitting, even if Ben never uses emojis. He sends her a quick text, a simple hi, so she has his information as well and part of him wonders what type of emoji she’s entering next to his name as she saves his contact info.  
  
He makes it his personal mission to find out.  
  
“I gotta get going. I’ve probably been here too long actually, you have work to do,” he says as he crams his hands into the pockets of his jeans, because he’s suddenly not really sure what to do with them. Does he hug her goodbye? Is that too forward? Is this even an actual date or does she think he just wants to be her friend? He really should have clarified that.  
  
Rey tucks her loose hair behind her ear, and there’s that tattoo again – a black outline of a flower with two sprigs of leaves – small and delicate and completely perfect. He wants to find out about this too.  
  
“I’ll text you?” she questions, as if she’s not sure, as if it’s not completely obvious that he’s already halfway in love with her.  
  
He nods in response before giving her a quiet goodbye and heading back to the front doors of the building.  
  
\---  
  
“Hey kid,” Ben greets his son that afternoon.  
  
He finds Nash in the homework center when he failed to find him in the gym as usual. There are papers covering every inch of the desk he was sitting at, clearly something he had picked up from his grandfather.  
  
Nash looks up in surprise, his eyes flitting back and forth between the wall clock that clearly read 3:52pm and Ben. “You’re early!” Nash says excitedly before he pauses. “Is Bubbe okay? Is Gramps?”  
  
Ben gives a startled laugh. “Yeah, they are both perfectly fine. In fact, we’re headed there for dinner. Why?” he asks as he helps his son pack up his homework and makes the mental note of figuring out how to better organize the disaster that is a fifth grader’s bookbag.  
  
“You’re never early unless something bad happens,” his kid says with a pointed look, and well, he’s not wrong.  
  
“Everything is fine. We were having a slow day at the bar and Aunt Rose kicked me out when Meg got there to close. Cross my heart,” he tells Nash as he marks an X across his chest and shoulders the ridiculously heavy bookbag. What did his kid have in there, rocks?  
  
“Okay, if you promise,” Nash says softly as they head out towards the front lobby to wait for Jess to buzz them out. Ben raises his hand in thanks when Jess tells them goodnight as the lock flashes to open.  
  
They manage to get pulled out onto the street before Nash speaks up from the back.  
  
“Dad,” he starts quietly, all nervous energy and reluctance. “How do you know when you like someone?”  
  
Ben tries very hard not to panic, because _shit, shit, shit,_ there’s a huge difference between suspecting his son has a crush and his son admitting it. Especially considering that the crush in question is the same women he’s made lunch plans with for next Tuesday, even if he’s not totally sure it’s a real date. Ben does his best to adopt a neutral tone and asks Nash to tell him what exactly he means.  
  
“Well, there’s this girl. And she’s really nice, and pretty. And I like it when she’s around, a lot,” Nash mumbles as he plays with he hem of his t-shirt, his face a startling shade of pink.  
  
“Well bud,” Ben starts, “it sounds like you have it figured out.”  
  
_Shit shit shit. Fuck. Goddamit shit._  
  
“And unless you want to admit it to her, there’s not much you can do about it. Crushes are weird that way when you’re a kid.”  
  
“Do you get crushes?” is the next thing Nash asks and oh boy Ben was not prepared for that.  
  
“Sure,” he states diplomatically, hoping to squash the conversation with his non-answer.  
  
“Like who?” Nash asks, clearly not satisfied with Ben’s reluctance to respond. If he wasn’t driving, Ben would definitely be face palming right now.  
  
Ben looks in his rearview mirror ands sees the hopeful look on this son’s face. “Nice women. Ones that like silly ten-year-old boys especially. But don’t worry yourself about me Nash.”  
  
His kid laughs from the backseat as they speed off, the conversation at an apparent end – much to Ben’s relief.  
  
They are pulling into the driveway of Ben’s childhood home when he hears Nash call his name again. Ben responds with a hum as he parks the SUV and turns the engine off before turning to face his son.  
  
“I think you need a girlfriend Dad. Someone nice, who likes kids and the bar and Bubbe and Gramps,” Nash drops that truth bomb in such a casual manner that it forces Ben to pause as his mind turns the sentence over - long enough that he doesn’t even notice his parents waving from the front door.  
  
“Uh – yeah bud – I think that too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think!
> 
> I've been around on [tumblr](https://bex-xo.tumblr.com/) for years but have spent the last few months primarily on [twitter](https://twitter.com/kybershearted/)! Come talk to me on one or the other or both, I promise I'm very friendly!


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